Kory

 

 

 

I scrub my hands over my face. It's been a long day at the office sorting out the case against Maya. Of course, I'm not her lawyer, bitch doesn't deserve my help. But one of my employees from the Seattle office is the prosecution lawyer in this case. Dani's lawyer. One I appointed for her.

She probably won't thank me for it, but I doubt she could afford one on the wage she gets in that thankless job of hers.

Besides, it was my father who suggested it. She was shot saving his son, after all. And it's my father who's paying for it all as a thank you. Greg could have been killed if it wasn't for Danika Ashford and her quick thinking.

I've been going over the case notes. It should be an easy open and shut case. Or it would be if Maya wasn't pleading insanity. She's been seen by the station's psychiatrist and Woodgreen Correctional Facility's psychiatrist, where she's awaiting her trial. They both agree that she was not of a sound frame of mind on the day of the shooting.

They both believe her to have had a mental breakdown resulting in the events that happened that day. I call bullshit. Maya is a very good manipulator. Sure, she lost her mind for a second because Greg wouldn't listen to her crap, but does that mean she wasn't mentally competent at the time?

This is the bullshit I'm dealing with right now. I want her punished for what she did. We all do. But I have a feeling the DA is on her side. The DA has already told Jimmy – Dani's lawyer – not to expect a severe sentence for the crime. With the doctor's reports all matching, it looks like Maya will get a few short months at a push. She could even be let off completely due to this mental health act bullshit.

I've never been more frustrated in my entire life! There has to be something I'm missing. Some way for me to prove that Maya's “mental illness” is all an act. Because I don't believe it for one hot second.

There is one thing that's playing on my mind, though. Maya has sworn black and blue that Dean really is Greg's, that we need to get him tested and it will prove it. If that's the case, she'll be prosecuted for tampering with DNA results, fraud, not to mention the shit she along with her boyfriend pulled to get the kids birth certificate changed.

Trouble is, Dean's with this boyfriend of hers, and she won't give up his name. Crazy bitch had a sample of Dean's hair in a baggy at her mother's place. I had it picked up. Her mother was utterly shocked. She hadn't even known Maya had shot Dani. Apparently, she'd had nothing to do with her daughter for months.

I don't give a shit why, but I retrieved the baggy from Maya's old room, right where she said it would be. I'm guessing she kept it as insurance for some reason or other. Could have been anything knowing that insane cow.

I sent the sample off along with a sample of Greg's hair that I took from his comb this morning. Hopefully, it won't take long before the results are back and I'll know once and for all if that bitch is just crazy or telling the truth.

I haven't said anything to Greg yet because I don't want to get his hopes up for it to turn out to be a lie. It would destroy him all over again.

If Dean really is Greg's, his birth certificate will be put to rights and he'll be home with my brother within the next forty-eight hours. Home where he belongs. I'll make damn sure Greg is given full custody of his son. You mark my words, I will.

The intercom on my desk buzzes. I told Connie that I didn't want to be disturbed today. I have too much work to get through. Why can't I find a secretary that will fucking listen to me?!

“What?” Not the friendliest way to speak to a woman, but I'm pissed off here!

“I'm sorry to bother you, Sir, but there's a police officer here who wishes to speak with you. He says it's important.”

“What officer?” I gave my statement to the jerk offs who came last week. The motherfuckers who did not, in my opinion, do their jobs properly. It was as if they couldn't be bothered to gather the evidence.

“An officer Kavanagh, Sir.”

“What does he want?” I'm not really interested, I'd like to tell him to fuck off. But I find with these people, the quicker you get it over with the better.

“You really gonna make me stand out here while you ask all these damn questions, Harper?”

Well, I'll be goddamned!

I click off the intercom, jump out of my seat, and march right out the door. It's been a couple years since I saw him, but he hasn't changed, gotten bigger is about all. He's still tall, well-dressed looks like he just walked out of a GQ shoot. Handsome prick.

“Daxton Kavanagh as I live and breathe!”

He laughs and wrestles me into a bear hug. “Long time no see, fucker!”

“Too long, man, too long. Come in, come in.”

He follows me into my office. I close the door behind us, but not before telling Connie that she's not to disturb me under pain of death. Of course, I'm not going to hurt her but I don't want her thinking I'm a pushover either.

I offer Daxton a seat, he takes it, and then takes the two fingers of scotch I offer him. I met Daxton fifteen years ago, we were both in law school at the time. We hit it off right away and became damn good friends.

But where I finished my law degree, Daxton felt his calling was the police force. I supported him on this, he was my best friend, why the hell wouldn't I? He worked his way up the ranks and made detective at twenty-eight. So why Connie referred to him as an officer is beyond me. Surely he told her his true ranking. Because last I heard they wanted to promote him to sergeant.

“What brings you here Detective?”

“Actually, it's Sergeant now. I just didn't correct the lady when she assumed I was an officer. Even though an officer would have been in uniform.”

I smile, I knew it.

“Congrats, man, I always knew you could do it.”

“Thanks. Look, I'm just gonna get right to the point. I'm here because I need your help with something. Something you've been unwittingly helping me with for months.”

I sit up straighter in my seat. “What are you talking about, we haven't spoken about my helping you with anything, Dax.”

“Kory, you're the best friend I ever had. I know what you're capable of deep down when pushed. I know the things you've done, remember?”

I nod.

He's right, he does not. Not that I've ever killed anyone, don't go thinking that. I'm a lot of things but I don't have that in me.

He's talking about all the years I made Aimee keep our marriage a secret, all the things I did to keep anyone from finding out about her. The things I did to keep myself alive.

He helped me cover up things I shouldn't have needed help covering up. But sometimes in this life, you don't have a choice. Some of the things I did could have landed us both in prison for a long time. Then some of the things I did, did land people in prison for a long time. I worked with the police to catch a crime family and finally put them away, all the time acting like a normal man going about his daily life.

It was hard, it was a struggle, but I did it and I came out on top. I'm a happily married man now with the most beautiful little girl in the world. If Daxton is here to ask me to go undercover with something, then the answer is no. I don't care what I owe him.

“I need your help now. Nine months ago, I planted a young girl in witness protection in this town. It was an unauthorized witness protection, but I did it anyway. This wasn't her first drop off, she's been all over the place because she could never settle.”

Who the hell is he talking about, I know everyone in this town, there's no one new here. Not since... “Dani?” He nods his head. “Jesus. Does my dad know?”

“He knows. I contacted him first before I brought her here. I needed to know he'd keep an eye on her. I knew you lived here, so I knew she'd be okay. Everything you know about her is a lie. Everything from her name to her past.”

“My god, Dax! My brother has been dating her for months!”

“I know this, your father told me when he called. I told her to have a normal life, Kory. But the truth is, I never expected her to find anyone. She's been on her own so long. Then her son was stolen from her a year ago, she couldn't cope, so I brought her here.”

“She has a son?” He nods and I'm shocked. She's never even acted like she lost her child. But I suppose a woman in her situation would find a way to hide it from those around her, break down when she's alone.

“I promised her that I would find her boy, and I have. He'll be with her soon.”

I scrub my hand over my face. I know Greg doesn't know about the kid, she's kept her identity well hidden from everyone here. But if her son is coming home, and Dean turns out to be Greg's, will they stay together, raise those boys together?

“This was the safest place I could think of to bring her, Kory. This place isn't even on the damn map. No one would know to come here unless they knew the place. I wanted her safe until I could sort things for her. I just didn't think she'd fall for anybody. But she has for your brother, hard. I don't know why he walked away from her, but she's now asking me to relocate her again. I can't do that.”

“Why not. If she wants to go, why not take her?”

“Because it's too dangerous, Kory. She is in danger every day she breathes air. You have no idea of what she's suffered, who I'm hiding her from.”

I steeple my hands together in front of me. If he wants my help, then he needs to tell me everything, and from the beginning. He's helped me enough in the past, so I know in my heart I won't turn him down. I'll help him, of course, I will.

“What is it you want my help with exactly? And how does it concern Dani? And why are you so desperate to help her?”

He looks worn out all of a sudden, tired, sad, deflated, desperate. What happened to my friend to make him look so desperate right now?

“Because Danika Ashford is really Alandra Flores.”

That name slams into me like a bolt of lighting. It's a name I haven't heard in a long time, but one I will never forget. If she is really who Daxton says she is, then there is nothing I won't do to help her.

“Tell me everything, Dax. From the beginning. Then tell me what you need from me.”

“We need to speak with your brother-in-law.”

“My brother-in-law?” Which one? And why the hell would we need to do that?

“Hudson Ryker. He came home a few years ago, right?” I nod. How does he know this? “He was away for five years?” Again, I nod. Daxton sits forward in his seat and looks me dead in the eye. “He's the reason I knew this place would be safe to hide Danika. He's also the key to ending this whole thing.”

What in the fucking world?

“Call him, Kory, this can't wait.”

I'll call him, but I want and need to know everything. How the fuck Hudson is involved in this and how in the hell I didn't recognize the girl I once knew?